Numerous techniques have been developed to improve the ability of a player to hit a ball with a bat, club, racket or other implement. Generally, these techniques rely upon a repetitive practice routine of swinging at the ball. In the case of base-ball players, batting tees, batting practice machine and pitchers have been used to improve a batter's swing and hitting ability. While these techniques have been useful, the degree of success with all players has not been particularly great. Further, relatively long periods of time are required with proper instructions to perfect one's ability through constant practice.
Numerous articles have also been published on methods for improving hitting. For example, THE ART OF HITTING by Charley Lau with Alfred Glossbrenner (1980) discloses the movement of the head during hitting. THE SWING'S THE THING by Ben Hines and Bob McBee (1985) teaches chin and shoulder movement, the fulcrum position, bringing the barrel of the bat in a downward plane into the baseball, and the turning of the head.
It has been well established in the art that proper head to shoulder transfer and movement through the swing is critical in achieving solid contact with the ball in transferring maximum force so as to hit the ball as far as possible. U.S. Pat No. 4,605,226 by Morrissey discloses a training device to be used in the sport of baseball and the like which enables the user to improve his hand-eye coordination and to maximize his physical power by maximizing the head to shoulder transfer. The device of Morrissey is mounted on a protective helmet said device comprising a shield having a top flange and a main opaque body releasably mounted on a protective helmet on the side opposite the source of the projectile travelling towards the user. In the case of baseball, the user's head being out of the desired position will result in a shielding of the eyes of the user from the projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,765 by Stringham discloses a batting aid which is comprised of a shoulder piece for positioning on a shoulder of a batter, a jaw piece for positioning against the jaw of the batter and means which connects the shoulder piece and jaw piece together in a spaced relation to each other in order to impede movement of the jaw of the batter towards the shoulder during a swing.
Continual efforts to correct head movement in the process of hitting a pitched baseball is common place.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple device to improve the hitting ability of the batter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a batting aid for a baseball player which will enable the batter to keep his head in the correct position and the proper use of his front shoulder in the hitting process.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a simple hitting device which can improve the hitting stance of a batter.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent as you proceed through the detailed description.